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In this petition, to which about two-thirds
of the total sterling salaried staff in the Hong Kong
Government have subscribed, the protest against the
Secretary of State's decision to approve the
imposition of a temporary levy on salaries is based
under the following main heads, viz:-
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(1) The sterling officers suffered a
substantial levy on their salaries in 1931, which was
proved to be an unnecessary sacrifice on their part
and the money so saved at their expense was
regarded as a windfall to be dissipated on Public
Works Extraordinary.
(2) No additional taxation has been
simultaneously placed on the general public in a
Colony which is extremely lightly taxed and well
able to bear increased taxation.
(3)
There are surplus funds available to the
Government for tiding over the budgetary difficulty
which is the excuse for the present levy.
(4) Little has been effected by way of
retrenchment of expenditure on Government establish-
ments; substantial reductions in staff could be
made without impairing the effectiveness of the
Service, and a scheme of voluntary retirement with
pension should be introduced for officers with not
less than 10 years' service.
(5) The present scheme of levy hits especially
officers who have to make remittances to England,
since their sterling salaries are paid in Hong Kong
of
at the purely artificial rate at $1 = ls. 6d., but
when they have to remit monies home they can only do
so at the current rate of exchange, viz., $1 = ls. 34d.
(6) The levy amounts to discriminatory
taxation on one small section of the community in
the